# Ready player one

**Source**: https://ge.iitm.ac.in/rendezvous/ready-player-one/
**Parent**: https://ge.iitm.ac.in/rendezvous/page/2/

A decade
after
its
inception,
Raftar
Formula
Racing,
the
Formula
Student
Team of
IIT
Madras,
is all
set to
present
its
first
electric
car on a
global
stage.
Ahead of
the
upcoming
Formula
Student
competition
to be
held in
Hockenheimring,
Germany,
we look
at
Raftar’s
evolution
over the
years,
and have
a chat
with its
crew
members
and
faculty
advisors

**Srivatsan
S**

It’s
quarter
to three
on a
painfully
sultry
Saturday
afternoon,
where
the sun
doesn’t
show any
signs of
slowing
down. We
wipe the
sweat
from our
faces
along
with the
thought
that
it’s
going to
be over
soon, a
sentiment
that all
of us
who have
gathered
at the
Office
of
Industrial
Consultancy
and
Sponsored
Research
(IC&SR),
IIT
Madras,
seem to
collectively
share.
Now,
it’s
just a
question
of
minutes
before
the
demonstration
begins.

Amidst
all
this, we
hear
chatter
emerging
from the
road
that
runs
parallel
to
IC&SR
where a
group of
students
appear
silhouetted
against
the arms
of the
banyan
trees.
They
take
measured
steps
mindful
of the
weight
they are
carrying
along.
After
all,
it’s
their
baby,
born out
of a
wedlock
from ten
departments
involving
cross
disciplines.

This is
RFR23,
the
first
electric
Formula
Student
car
designed
and
built by
Raftar,
a team
of 40
IIT-M
students
who
share a
common
passion
for
automotive
engineering
and
motorsports.
Today,
we are
at
IC&SR,
where
Team
Raftar
plans to
take the
car for
a quick
spin.
The
moment
RFR23
enters
the
arena,
there is
palpable
excitement
among
the
onlookers
who look
at the
scene
with
much
intrigue.
One of
the crew
members
safely
jacks
the car
up from
the rear
making
the
RFR23
trudge
its way
on the
road,
while
the
driver,
Sai
Ashwin,
sits in
the
cockpit
like a
King
waiting
to be
received
by his
people.

All of a
sudden,
the
students
stop
mid-way
to
discuss
something
first.
Madhav
Rajadurai,
a third
year
student
of
Engineering
Design
and the
current
captain
of
Raftar,
goes
running
to the
crew.
They all
seem
concerned.
“I don’t
understand
what’s
happening,”
Madhav
can be
heard
saying
with
much
disappointment.
Something
doesn’t
seem to
sit
well.

“I
repeatedly
told
them
that,
didn’t
I? How
are we
supposed
to do it
without
cones?”
Sai
Ashwin
belts
out,
before
they all
laugh
sheepishly.
Apparently
one of
them
seemed
to have
forgotten
to bring
the road
safety
cones
for the
run.

A phone
call is
made and
the
safety
cones
are
brought.
By the
time the
crew
places
the
cones on
the
road,
the
crowd at
IC&SR
gets
bigger.
As Sai
Ashwin
puts on
the
helmet,
prepared
to push
the
throttle,
everyone
at the
venue,
including
this
writer,
flips
their
phone
out,
ready to
capture
the
moment
RFR23
takes
off.
Until it
doesn’t.

There’s
some
confusion.
The
audience
— mostly
students
from
other
colleges
who have
come for
a
workshop
on Data
Science
— at the
venue,
takes a
closer
look at
the
RFR23,
and has
a chat
with its
crew
members.
“We
don’t
have
enough
voltage
to do
the run,
so we
thought
it’s
better
we don’t
do it
today,”
Madhav
tells
us.

Battery
consumption
remains
a
challenge
and a
vital
area of
focus,
says
Madhav.
“We
always
tend to
stay
between
20% to
80% of
the
state of
charge.
There
are also
smart
algorithms
implemented
in the
battery
management
system
to
maintain
the same
voltage
and the
rate of
discharge
so that
you are
still
able to
hit
higher
velocities,
energy
and
acceleration,”
he says,
explaining
the
challenges
in
putting
together
an
electric
car.

This is
certainly
not a
roadblock
but a
matter
of
concern
for Team
Raftar,
as they
prep and
fine-tune
the
RFR23
ahead of
the
upcoming
Formula
Student
Germany
(FSG),
slated
to be
held in
Hockenheimring,
Germany,
from
August
14-20,
2023.

FSG is
an
annual
international
design
competition
where
students
from
universities
across
the
world
build a
single-seater,
open-wheel
race car
and
compete
against
participating
teams.
While
the goal
broadly
is to
build
the
fastest
car, the
competition
evaluates
other
important
aspects
such as
the
construction,
performance,
and
financial
and
sales.
The
competition
more or
less is
a
platform
where
knowledge
and
ideas
are
exchanged;
it gives
students
an
opportunity
to
network
and at
the same
time,
learn
from
each
other.

**Reliability
first**

There
are
three
main
categories
at FSG:
combustion,
electric
and
driverless.
Over the
years,
Raftar
has
participated
in the
international
competition
four
times in
the
combustion
category.
This
will,
however,
be the
first
time the
team
will
compete
in the
EV
category.

Ever
since
its
inception
in 2012,
Raftar,
which
takes up
the
monumental
task of
building
a fast
yet
reliable
Formula
Student
race car
every
year,
has
mostly
been
working
on
combustion
engines.
The team
has won
a number
of
awards
and
laurels
in
national
and
international
competitions
including
being
the
first
Indian
to win
an
international
dynamic
event in
2017,
and a
Formula
Bharat
champion
in
2020.

Given
the
rapid
growth
in
electric
vehicles
in the
country
and as
well as
the
world at
large,
the
RFR23 is
Raftar’s
latest
offering.
However,
that was
not the
main
reason,
asserts
R
Harish,
who is
the
current
sponsorship
lead and
powertrain
engineer
of
Raftar.

“If
you look
at teams
from
Germany,
which we
want to
compete
against,
we have
always
been
given
excuses
that
Germany
teams
have
accessibility
to high
power
combustion
engines
while it
is not
available
in
India,”
he says,
adding,
“We have
always
been
limited
in our
performance
even if
we put
the best
of our
abilities.
But we
are not
limited
by this
in the
electric
category;
we have
the best
motors
available
in India
and
Europe.”

Therefore,
the
construction
of an
electric
car will
hopefully
ensure a
level-playing
field
for both
India
and
Germany,
adds
Harish.
Building
an EV,
however,
was even
more
challenging
than a
combustion
vehicle
since
the team
has,
over the
last 10
years,
mastered
itself
in
combustion
engines.

During
the
thick of
the
pandemic,
when the
nation
was
under
lockdown
and when
students
were at
the
confines
of their
homes,
Team
Raftar
decided
to draw
out a
design
phase
that
would
last
until
the
students
came
back to
the
campus
to
assemble
and
build
the car.
Until
then,
the
design,
calibration
and
prototyping
was done
in
silico.

After
several
iterations,
once the
design
was
finalised,
Madhav
says
that
they
would go
to their
faculty
advisor,
Prof
Satyanarayanan
Seshadri
of
Applied
Mechanics,
for
additional
inputs
and
advice.
The
final
design
was
completed
by the
end of
2021 and
the
RFR23
was
launched
in
November
2022.

As
soon as
Satya
was on
board,
he
wanted
to reset
Raftar’s
thinking.
“The
objective
was not
to build
yet
another
race
car.
With the
electric
platform,
it gave
us the
opportunity
to
innovate.
The way
I look
at RFR23
is that
it’s a
technology
platform,
which
will be
used for
testing
various
elements
of
electric
propulsion,”
says
Satya,
adding
that the
team
worked
with the
IIT-M
developed
SHAKTI
processor.

“We are
hopeful
that the
car will
be
number
one in
various
competitions,”
said
Director
V
Kamakoti
while
unveiling
the car.
Earlier
this
year,
RFR23
secured
third in
the
Overall
category
at
Formula
Bharat,
the
national
Formula
Student
competition
held
every
year.
The FSG,
however,
will be
RFR23’s
biggest
test
yet.

**Familiar
terrain**

The FSG
is split
into two
main
events:
static
and
dynamic;
the
former
not only
includes
technical
understanding
but also
economic
as well
as
planning
and
communication
skills.
The
dynamic
category
is where
the
car’s
performance
is
tested
for
acceleration,
endurance,
efficiency
and skid
pad
among
others.
The team
with the
most
points
ends up
winning
the
competition.

“There
is also
a cost
and
manufacturing
event
where
you show
the
bills
for all
the
materials
you used
for
making
the car.
Even if
there is
a single
material
that is
not on
the list
but in
the car,
you will
be
penalised.
The
judges
will
question
your
manufacturing
decisions,
like,
for
instance,
why did
you make
it
instead
of
buying
it. The
static
events
are a
rigorous
process,”
says
Madhav.

The
initial
challenge
Raftar
encountered
was with
funds. A
lot of
money
had to
be
pooled
in as
investment
since
they
were
making
an
electric
vehicle.
Harish
credits
the
faculty
members
for
their
consistent
support
and
encouragement.

“We have
an
advisory
board
that
includes
Prof.
Satyanarayanan
Seshadri,
Prof.
Aravind
Kumar
Chandran
who
helps us
on
batteries
and
battery
technology,
and
Prof. V
Kamakoti
(Director),
who
helps us
with
software
and
cyber
security.
Prof.
Krishna
Vasudevan
and
Prof.
Arun
Karuppaswamy
helped
us in
the
motor
controller
part.”

Satya
feels
that in
hindsight,
they
could
have
done a
better
job with
the
branding
of
Raftar;
calling
it a
platform
right
from the
beginning
might
have
changed
its
perception
and
helped
them
with
partnerships.

“The
moment
you say
you are
building
a
student’s
race
car, the
perspective
changes.
People
want to
sponsor
a few
lakhs
like a
donation.
But when
you say
you are
building
an
autonomous
electric
vehicle
platform,
you are
taken
seriously.
Because
what we
do here
is a
significant
amount
of
technology
development,”
he says,
adding
that
talks
are on
the way
to
partner
with
Daimler
Motor
Company.

The
other
challenge
that
Raftar
had to
fix was
the
anxiety
around
electric
vehicles,
especially
given
that
there
were
numerous
reports
of
electric
vehicles
catching
fire.
Additionally,
there
was a
detailed
rulebook
that FSG
had that
Raftar
had to
adhere
to. “We
wanted
to build
a
reliable
car
first
and not
focus
too much
on the
performance,”
says
Harish,
“We
tried to
make
sure the
battery
can
sustain
acceleration
as high
as 20g
(20
times
the
weight
of the
actual
battery
pack)
and is
crash
safe.”

There
were
about
four to
five
prototypes
that the
crew
members
worked
on.
Satya,
on the
other
hand,
says
that the
fundamental
input he
gave
that
helped
the team
was the
FMEA
(failure
mode and
effect
analysis)
approach.
The
algorithm
that
they
have
devised
is based
on deep
learning,
which
tries to
get
input
parameters
and
estimates
the
remaining
charge
rather
accurately.

“We have
implemented
an
algorithm
that
estimates
the
charge
remaining
in the
car. To
perfect
this
algorithm
took a
long
time,”
says
Harish,
adding
that the
battery
pack is
air
cooled,
while
liquid
is used
to cool
the
motors.

Madhav
took
over as
the
captain
from
Karthik
Karumanchi,
who is
now an
alumnus.
During
the
launch
of the
car,
Karthik
said
that the
team’s
focus
was to
build a
safe,
sustainable
and
reliable
electric
vehicle
by
looking
at
current
issues
faced in
the
industry.

Madhav,
Harish
and Sai
Ashwin
were all
juniors
when
they
joined
Raftar.
They
have all
grown
with the
team. As
Harish
jokes,
“Whenever
we find
spare
time, we
go to
our
classes.”
Madhav
concurs.
“The
thing
about
Raftar
is, it
is a
very
committed
team.”

Every
year,
Raftar
recruits
a fresh
pair of
drivers
as well
as crew
members.
The
driver
selection,
which
happens
either
once or
twice a
year, is
another
rigorous
process
where
the
first
obvious
criterion
is
passion.
“Whoever
is
interested
in
driving,
we give
them a
shot
provided
they
have a
driver’s
licence,”
says
Madhav,
adding
that
drivers
are put
to test
via
go-kart.
“We
can’t
obviously
give an
expensive
car to
someone
inexperienced.”

Go-karting
is a
common
team
activity
that
Raftar
does
once
every
two or
three
months.
Their
preferred
spot is
Chennai’s
ECR
Speedway,
but they
also go
to Kart
Attack.
Madhav
and his
team sit
back and
evaluate
the
drivers
based on
their
performance
in three
key
areas:
speed,
safety
and
consistency.

“If the
driver
is going
fast but
is
crashing
every
alternate
lap in a
go-kart,
that is
still
okay.
But we
can’t
afford
to crash
even
once
during
the
actual
competition
because
all of
these
are
carbon
fibre
and
cannot
take the
hit. If
any of
its
edges
rubs the
wall,
it’s
going to
crumble,”
informs
Madhav.

Go-karting
isn’t
the same
as
driving
a
passenger
car
because
ultimately,
the
driver
drives a
lightweight
vehicle.
This
naturally
yields a
big
difference
in terms
of
performance.
For
instance,
when you
break
and turn
a
go-kart,
it runs
the
danger
of
losing
grip on
rear
tires.
“Go-karts
tend to
oversteer
so it’s
very
easy to
lose
control
in a
corner.
It’s
understandable
in the
first
lap but
by the
third or
fourth
lap, the
driver
should
be able
to adapt
to it.
It also
matters
how you
combat
oversteering
during
the
driver’s
selection,”
he says,
adding
that
drivers
get two
10-minute
slots
during
the
selection.

Raftar
selects
six
drivers
in
total.
The FSG
allows
teams to
register
four to
six
drivers
and can
run all
the
events
with
three
drivers.
The
current
drivers,
Madhav
and Sai
Ashwin,
will
pass on
the
baton to
their
juniors
next
year and
take up
the role
of
mentors.

**A
race
against
time**

There
isn’t
much
time
left for
Raftar,
even
though
the
RFR23
requires
quite a
bit of
fine-tuning
before
they
wind
down the
testing
phase.
Some of
the
critical
parts
are
still
stuck in
customs,
while
there
are a
few
components
that
have to
be
procured.
At any
cost,
the
cutoff
time is
the end
of
June.

Since
it’s a
fully-electric
vehicle,
it runs
the
danger
of
shipping
hazardous
goods
on-air,
which
leaves
them a
20-day
transit
time.
The
RFR23
cannot
be flown
in its
current
assembled
state;
the crew
members
have to
reassemble
the car
in
Germany
before
the
competition,
which
gives
them a
two-week
window.
Which
also
means
that in
the
beginning
of July,
Team
Raftar
will
have to
start
packing
the
car.

At the
same
time,
there is
an air
of
excitement
among
students;
some of
whom
will fly
to
Germany
for the
first
time.
This,
however,
is not
Raftar’s
first
time at
FSG. In
2018,
they
made it
big by
becoming
the only
Indian
entrant
to
participate
at FSG.
They
qualified
for the
third
time in
2019 and
came
third in
Cost and
11th in
Business
Plan in
Static
events
for the
combustion
vehicle
category.

The
RFR23
has been
designed
to
produce
a
maximum
torque
of 109Nm
and can
clock a
maximum
speed of
150kmph.
Madhav
says
that the
team
takes
the car
out to a
race
track in
Chennai’s
Padi for
the
actual
endurance
and
reliability
testing,
while
occasionally
taking
it for a
spin on
campus.

Though
they are
aware of
the
speed
restrictions
on
campus,
Madhav
remembers
the
surreal
feeling
he had
when he
sat in
the
driver’s
seat
once.
During
one of
the
tests in
the wee
hours on
campus,
Madhav
thought
perhaps
he
should
try and
push the
car a
bit
more. He
ended up
clocking
35 to
40Nm.

The
difference
in power
was
visibly
evident.
“Like
when you
press
the
throttle
and you
actually
get
slammed
back in
the
seat,
that is
when you
realise
how
powerful
the car
is,” he
says.

RFR23 is
the
first
electric
car
designed
and
built by
Team
Raftar.
The
Formula
Student
Germany
is
scheduled
to take
place
from
August
14-20.
For more
details,
check
out
Raftar’s
website: [https://www.raftarformularacing.com](https://www.raftarformularacing.com/)

What
started
as an
intimate
group of
motorsport
enthusiasts,
Raftar
has
grown to
become
one of
the
successful
Indian
teams in
the
combustion
engines
category.
In fact,
when
Raftar
built
its
first
car –
RFR12 –
on par
with
international
standards,
all they
had
was ₹10,000
in hand
and a
few
second-hand
parts at
their
disposal.
They
went to
the
Silverstone
Formula
One
Circuit
in 2012,
where
the
RFR12
received
praise
from the
judges
of
Formula
Student
UK when
it was
declared
the
least
expensive
Formula
Student
car of
the
competition.
Their
faculty
advisor
then was
Prof. A
Ramesh.

**FORMULA
STUDENT**

Held
first by
the
Society
of
Automotive
Engineers
in 1979,
Formula
Student
is an
annual
design
competition
for
engineering
students
that
puts
their
skills
to test.
Every
year,
students
from
across
the
world
compete
against
each
other in
designing
and
developing
the
fastest
formula-style
small-scale
racing
car.
They are
awarded
points
in two
categories:
Static
Events
(off
track)
and
Dynamic
Events
(on
track).
The team
with the
most
points
ends up
winning
the
competition.
Over the
years,
teams
from
over 600
universities
from
over 20
countries
have
participated
in the
competition.
This
year,
Formula
Student
will
take
place
from
August
14 to 20
in
Hockenheim,
Germany.

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